Mannkvern have signed to Wormholedeath, who will put out The Harlot's Wake with physical editions in early 2027. The record took six years and a move from Norway to Poland, and it started as one man recording alone.
That man is Orkana V, who has played in Ragnarok live and run Man Gremmes Kan, Nattsol and Gnipaheller, so the Norwegian half of this is not borrowed. The Polish half is what makes it unusual: Eastern European darkness and old religious hymns worked into a tradition that normally stays inside Scandinavia.
The reading list is on the sleeve, in effect. The New Testament, Dostoevsky and Orwell, and the question running between the three of them is why people keep obeying systems that have already failed them. That is a heavier frame than most black metal bothers with, and it is at least a coherent one.
"The Former Things Have Passed Away" came out independently earlier this year and now stands as the introduction to the album.